Laboratory Support Technician in Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

The Role

We have an exciting opportunity for a laboratory support technician to join the technical team in the School of Pharmacy. The successful candidate will provide support to our student led health clinics, clinical skills teaching sessions and undergraduate laboratory practicals. This is a hands-on practical role that requires a positive, proactive approach, organisational skills and attention to detail. Excellent team working and communication skills are essential to this role. You will be based in the School of Pharmacy and will support across multiple areas, with the main focus of the role being Clinical skills based. You will also be part of the Faculty of Medical Sciences community of technicians, with access to continuous professional development and a network of staff who are committed to working collaboratively and sharing experience and best practice to deliver excellence, creativity and impact.

Key Accountabilities

• Provide technical support for Student led health clinics, Clinical skills teaching sessions and Undergraduate laboratory practicals, within the School of Pharmacy.
• Complete routine equipment maintenance and repairs.
• Ensure tidiness of facilities to facilitate efficient use.
• Demonstrate standard techniques within the expertise of the role holder to students and staff.
• Liaise with suppliers and manufacturers to resolve simple problems.
• Advise on routine equipment capabilities.
• With the academic/technical lead, establish and maintain a safe/compliant working environment.
• Assist/complete and update routine safety paperwork (dependent on risk owner).
• Organise and complete compliance tasks.
• Maintain up to date health and safety knowledge, providing support and advice to others.
• Ensure effective delivery objectives by planning and managing own workload.
• Assist the academic/technical lead with the day to day running and supervision of laboratory spaces.
• Work collaboratively to deliver objectives.
• Contribute to progress and management meetings.
• Make suggestions to improve the service.
• Contribute to and support change.
• Assist with record keeping, inventory and asset management.
• Monitor resource usage and maintain supply of key items.
• Assist with store operations, including ordering, receiving, processing and distributing of goods.
• Source and negotiate with suppliers for routine items.
• Provide a high standard of research/teaching support, including contribution to reports and publications or preparing for classes and field work.
• Contribute to research/teaching projects in terms of experimental activity and data acquisition.
• Prepare and manufacture a range of simple specimens/samples.
• Report infrastructure faults and support small scale building works.
• Manage equipment bookings and assist with any recharging schemes.
• Update and deliver local inductions.
• Provide training and demonstrations of techniques and equipment.
• Share skills and best practice.
• Any other duties within the scope and general nature of the grade which may be required.

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Excellent team working skills.
• Demonstrates technical and problem-solving capability.
• Demonstrates good organising ability to meet deadlines.
• Diligence and attention to detail.
• Positive and proactive approach to duties.
• Basic understanding of Health and Safety.
• Knowledge and experience of setting up/using clinical skills equipment.
• Contribute to design and specification of projects.
• Ability to adapt to changes in laboratory/research priorities.

Attributes and Behaviour

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Good interpersonal skills to interface with staff.
• Attention to detail to ensure accuracy and precision.
• Work in a collaborative and flexible way.
• To exhibit University and Faculty values and principles.

Qualifications

• GCSE/NVQ/O-levels or equivalent relevant experience.
• Professional registration with an accredited professional body (including HEA) or working towards this on appointment.

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution. We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams. We believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population. At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme. In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.